Question

What were John Napier's rod able to do?

Answer 1

Explanation:

Napier's rods, or bones, as they came to be called, were essentially a multiplication table cut up into movable columns. For example, to multiply 1,952 by 4, you picked up the rods numbered 1, 9, 5, and 2, and placed them on a wooden board outfitted with a vertical index labeled from 1 to 9.